Not Just for Your Cup: Surprisingly Delightful Things You Can Do with Tea

If you are a regular tea drinker, you will already know how good a cup of your favorite brand or flavor tastes, but you may not be aware that tea, especially green tea, has a lot of uses aside from delivering a healthy beverage.

If you want to learn more about green tea, you can see online here. Once you have made your tea, take a look at some of the other things you can do with it, other than just drink it.

Late nights catching up with you?: If you have notice some puffiness around your eyes for whatever reason, green tea can offer a natural remedy that will help deal with those dark circles around your eyes.

It is both the tannins and the caffeine in green tea that hold the secret to reducing the puffiness around your eyes. What you need to do is brew up two bags of green tea and take the bags out of the water once they have had a chance to infuse.

Try to squeeze as much of the liquid out of the bag as you can and let the bags rest until they have cooled down and are at room temperature. When they are ready, put a teabag over each eye and leave them there for about ten minutes or so, once they have had the chance to take effect.

Works on your feet: In much the same way that green tea can help reduce the puffiness in your eyes, the same ability to reduce swelling, can be used to provide a much-needed and relaxing foot soak.

You should be able to find a recipe for a green tea foot soak, which will invariably involve another important ingredient, Epsom salts. These salts are commonly used for aches and pains and when combined with green tea, it can often work wonders on your feet after a busy and tiring day.

Healthy summer treats: When the sun is shining and everyone is enjoying some fun outside, it is always tempting to think about something cold and refreshing like a fruit pop.

Rather than buy some, you can make your own frozen fruit pops, using an ingredient like raspberry tea and some fresh fruit. You can even make a boozy version for the grown-ups if you are entertaining and want to offer something different.

If you prefer, you could also churn some green tea into a delicious ice-cream.

Helping with the household chores: There are plenty of ways to enjoy the benefits of tea around the house, other than just drinking it.

Some of the uses include adding one quart of twice-brewed tea to four tablespoons of lemon juice, which will make a handy deodorizing spray to use in any rooms that need a freshen up.

Twice-brewed tea is also a good tip for cleaning your mirrors and making them sparkle and shine like new. All you have to do once you have made the solution, is to dip a soft cloth into the liquid and apply it to the surface of the mirror, before buffing it dry and to a shine once you have covered the surface with the solution.

If you have a pair of dark leather shoes that could do with a shine, a damp brewed tea bag will clean your shoes quite effectively.

Another interesting use for your used tea bags, is to use the contents to help clean your fireplace. All you have to do is sprinkle the damp tea leaves from the inside of a recently used tea bag, over the ashes in your fireplace, before you tackle the job of cleaning it out.

You will find that the tea you have sprinkled over the ashes will help stop the ashes from rising, making the task of cleaning your fireplace much easier.

Enhance your potted plants: Your used tea bags can even be used outside and could make your potted plants a bit healthier.

All you have to do is place a few of your previously-brewed tea bags over the drainage hole at the bottom of your planter, prior to potting. The effect of using the tea bags in this way, is that the teabags will retain water, which will help direct nutrients to the soil.

When you start to look into it, there are many surprisingly good things you can do with your tea, aside from just drinking it.

Chloe Nelson works as a barista. She enjoys writing about the beverage industry. You can find her articles mainly on entertainment websites.